Patricia Ann Cotham

Editorial note — same-name confusion. North Carolina State Board of Elections results show that a different candidate, listed as "Patricia (Pat) Cotham," appeared on the same November 2022 Mecklenburg County ballot as a candidate for the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners at-large, alongside "Tricia Cotham" as the N.C. House District 112 candidate ⁷. That person is not the candidate profiled here. The candidate profiled here, whose candidate-filing name is Tricia Ann Cotham, is the Republican state representative for N.C. House District 105 ¹⁴.

Current office and 2026 campaign

Tricia Ann Cotham is the Republican member of the North Carolina House of Representatives for District 105, a Mecklenburg County seat; the General Assembly's member record lists her at 6.5 terms in the House ¹. WBTV reports that the District 105 seat "covers part of Mecklenburg County, including the Matthews area" ⁸.

Cotham filed for re-election on December 17, 2025 for a two-year term ⁴. In the March 3, 2026 Republican primary she received 4,372 votes to Kelly VanHorn's 800 ⁵; the Associated Press projected the primary for Cotham on election night ⁸. She faces Democrat Ken McCool in the November 3, 2026 general election ⁴⁸.

Background and education

Vote Smart's compiled biographical record lists a Bachelor of Arts in history from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and a Master of Arts in school administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ⁹.

Career

Vote Smart's record lists Cotham as a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools teacher from 2001 to 2005, an assistant principal in the same district from 2003 to 2005, and a head varsity basketball coach for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools; it credits her as Charlotte-Mecklenburg Teacher of the Year in 2002 and Rotary Teacher of the Year in 2003 ⁹. After her first stretch of legislative service it lists her as vice president of McGuireWoods Consulting from 2017 to 2019, president of Achievement for All Children from 2019 to 2021, and a senior partner at BCHL Strategic Partners since 2019 ⁹.

NC Newsline reported in April 2023 that during her earlier terms Cotham "frequently referred to her time as public school teacher and administrator during floor debates as she built her credentials as a K-12 expert and champion," and that the N.C. Association of Educators had named her an "A+ legislator" ¹¹.

Office history

Vote Smart's record lists Cotham as representative for District 100 from 2007 to 2017, a 2016 candidate for the U.S. House in North Carolina's 12th District, representative for District 112 from 2023 to 2025, and representative for District 105 since 2025 ⁹. NC Newsline describes her first stretch of House service as running "from 2007 to 2016" ¹¹; the two accounts differ on the end year.

In the November 2022 general election she won District 112 as a Democrat with 15,389 votes to Republican Tony Long's 10,597 ⁷. QNotes reported that on November 18, 2023 she announced she would run in the new District 105 ¹⁵. In the November 2024 general election she won District 105 with 27,299 votes to Democrat Nicole Sidman's 27,086 ⁶; QNotes reported that Sidman requested a recount after the margin fell under one percent, and that Cotham "finished over Sidman by a final count of 213 votes" ¹⁵.

Legislative record and accomplishments

In the 2025-2026 session Cotham is chairman of the Education - K-12 Committee and of the Appropriations, Education subcommittee, and vice chairman of Appropriations; of Health; and of Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House. She is a member of Election Law, Energy and Public Utilities, Housing and Development, the House Select Committee on North Carolina's Transportation Future, and the House Select Committee on Property Tax Reduction and Reform, and co-chairs the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee ².

General Assembly records list Cotham as a primary sponsor of 55 bills in the 2025-2026 session ³. Six have been enacted as session law: House Bill 50, LEO Special Separation Allowance Options (S.L. 2025-8); House Bill 948, The P.A.V.E. Act (S.L. 2025-39); House Bill 378, Various Ed Law/Tax Acct/NIL Changes (S.L. 2025-46); House Bill 768, Emerg. Comm. Code Exempts/Sanitary Board/401 (S.L. 2025-50); House Bill 433, SFRF/NCPRO Revisions (S.L. 2026-3); and House Bill 1104, Improve IVC Process and Enhance Public Safety (S.L. 2026-38) ³. Other bills she filed as a primary sponsor include House Bill 76, Protect Access to In Vitro Fertilization; House Bill 192, Defund Planned Parenthood & Cost Transparency; House Bill 774, School Breakfast for All; House Bill 985, Increase Punishment for Assaulting Teachers; and House Bill 468, Regulate Kratom Products ³.

Documented disputes and controversies

Party switch, April 2023. On April 5, 2023, three months into a term she had won as a Democrat in District 112, Cotham announced at North Carolina Republican Party headquarters in Raleigh that she was changing her affiliation to the Republican Party ⁸¹¹. The switch gave House Republicans 72 members, enough to override vetoes by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper if all Republicans held together ¹¹¹².

In her own account at the announcement, as reported by WUNC, Cotham said: "I've suffered many attacks since I've been up here, from Democrats in the party, from blasting me on Twitter, to calling me names, to going after my family, going after my children." She said members of the caucus "certainly will slice and dice you in a second with malicious, vicious, untrue rumors and do not celebrate your success," and said, "I am still the same person, and I am going to do what I believe is right and follow my conscience" ¹⁰.

Democratic officials disputed her account in the same reporting. North Carolina Democratic Party Chair Anderson Clayton said, "Everything she's said about what my party has done internally is off-base." House Democratic Leader Robert Reives said, "Either she's mistaken about her recollection, or for some reason I've been texting somebody who's pretending to be Tricia Cotham" ¹⁰.

Abortion. NC Newsline reported that on May 3, 2022, about two weeks before her Democratic primary, Cotham wrote on Twitter, "Now, more than ever we need leaders who will be unwavering and unapologetic in their support of abortion rights," and that as recently as February 2023 she co-sponsored a bill with other Democrats to codify the 1973 Supreme Court decision establishing a constitutional right to abortion ¹¹. At the party-switch news conference she would not commit to a position, saying, "I'm going to listen. I'm going to look inside and I'm going to pray on this issue. And I know that that's where I'll find the answer, as I do on everything" ¹¹. PolitiFact quoted her 2015 floor speech opposing a longer abortion waiting period: "My womb and my uterus is not up for your political grab. Legislators — you — do not hold shares in my body, so stop trying to manipulate my mind" ¹³.

On May 3, 2023, Cotham voted with 71 Republicans to pass Senate Bill 20, which bans most abortions after 12 weeks; the House vote was 71-46 along party lines ¹². She voted on May 16, 2023 to override Cooper's veto of the bill ¹³. Cotham said the legislation "strikes a reasonable balance on the abortion issue" and said of her earlier account, "I had an ectopic pregnancy that sadly ended in miscarriage, not an elective abortion" ¹³. PolitiFact rated the change in position a "Full Flop" ¹³.

Charter schools and education oversight. At the party-switch announcement Cotham said, "On issues like school choice, like charters, we have to evolve" ¹¹, and told reporters, "One-size-fits-all in education is wrong for children. It might be OK for adults, but I am about children" ¹⁴. Days later she was one of four Republican primary sponsors of House Bill 618, which would strip the State Board of Education of its authority over charter school applications, amendments, renewals and terminations and shift those decisions to a newly created Charter School Review Board ¹⁴. WRAL reported that Cotham "was the president of a corporation that ran charter schools" and was at the time one of three chairs of the House Education Committee, "a role she's held since the start of the session when she was a Democrat, a rare position for a Democrat in the GOP-controlled chamber" ¹⁴.

Business interests and wealth source

Vote Smart's record lists Cotham as vice president of McGuireWoods Consulting from 2017 to 2019, president of Achievement for All Children from 2019 to 2021, and a senior partner at BCHL Strategic Partners since 2019 ⁹. NC Newsline described Achievement for All Children as "the nonprofit organization running Southside-Ashpole" Elementary in Robeson County, the only school that ended up in what was later called the Innovation School District ¹¹. NC Newsline reported that in 2020 it obtained a confidential letter prepared for State Board of Education members recommending that the state cancel its contract with Achievement for All Children, citing "more than a half-dozen reports the organization had not filed on time as required by its contract, including its proposed budget and annual audit," and that in June 2021 the State Board of Education announced it had ended the contract ¹¹.

Sources